Thakhek - From the North: Buses from Vientiane leave the Southern Bus station every 1-2 hours in the morning, the journey takes around 7 hours, from about 80,000 kip standard or 100,000 kip for a very colorful VIP bus. See the section on the Vientiane Southern Bus station for the non-trivial instructions how to get there on your own. There are hotel pick-up buses that can be booked from the centre of Vientiane but they make quite a mark up charging around a total fare from 100,000 to 130,000 kip per person. The long distance bus station is situated about 5 km east of the city centre along the Mekong, so a tuk tuk ride is almost unavoidable if you do not use the hotel pick-up service, for which local drivers seem to have fixed a price of 50,000 kip per (foreign) person.(update April 2015: price x person from the riverside to the bus station is 20,000 kip, refuse any other more expensive options) Update 2015------ Run away from bus station to the city and you ll find tuk tuk for 10.000 kip.in the bus station tuk tuk ask for 30.000 and then after negociacion 20.000 kip. From Pakse it's a 10 hour ride (don't believe the signs saying 5) on the local bus (update April 2015, the ride can vary it depends on weather conditions and how many stops/delivery the driver does along the way so between 5-10 hours). Including pickup it's 90000 kip (jan 2015). It is probably cheaper directly at the busstation (as of April 2015 the price is 60,000 kip at the bus station).
1. There is no direct bus from Hanoi to Thakhek - Tha Khet, Laos
2. To get to Thakhek - Tha Khet, Laos from Hanoi, you have to take a bus from Hanoi to Vientiane. On the way to Vientiane, the bus will stop for lunch at Vieng Kham village, you get off there and take the bus to Thakhek - Tha Khet, Laos. Getting a bus is not difficult, the driver will help you transfer the bus. The distance from Vieng Kham village to Thakhek - Tha Khet, Laos is about 80km.
3. Schedule from Hanoi – Vieng Kham
- Departure time: 18h00 day 1 (Pick up guests at points in the old town from 15.30 or at Nuoc Ngam bus station at 17h00 - 17.30)
- Time to Vieng Kham: 12h00 - 13h00 day 2
- Bus schedule: 38-beds high-quality bus departs daily
- Contact to book tickets: +84-914425788 Zalo/ Whatsapp Mr Luong Email: vietlaobus@gmail.com
- New daily ticket price 2023: 800,000 VND/way
https://vietlaobus.com/en/bus-hanoi-thakhek.html